City Couple Sue Va. Company Over Iud Injuries

An Allentown woman who claims she and her husband have been childless because of injuries she received from a birth-control device has filed a $1- million suit in federal district court.

Robin and David DeLuca of 1418 Liberty St. filed the suit against the A.H. Robins Co. of Richmond, Va., which marketed the Dalkon Shield, an intrauterine birth-control device, in 1971.

The company, which recalled the devices in 1974, said in April that it had set up a $615-million fund to pay for damage claims over the device.

The suit said a doctor inserted the Dalkon Shield in Mrs. DeLuca in 1973. She contended that she was told by a doctor this past June that pelvic inflammation and uterine injuries had been caused by the device.

The device damaged her Fallopian tubes and ovaries, the suit said, claiming the injuries "significantly diminish" her chances of conception and have left her infertile.

The suit charges the company with using false and misleading statements in promotions.

A.H. Robins realized the "physical danger" to consumers but "continued its misleading marketing and promotional tactics with reckless disregard and complete indifference for the probable consequences of its acts," the suit alleges.

Mrs. DeLuca contends that the device caused permanent injuries and a "severe compromise of her normal lifestyle."

Her husband alleged in the suit that he has been deprived of his wife's companionship and the ability to have children.

Attorneys Boyd Walker and Todd Miller, who filed the suit, have started two suits in Lehigh County Court on behalf of a Stroudsburg woman and a woman from the Emmaus area who claimed they received infections from the Dalkon Shields.

Although upwards of 12,000 suits reportedly have been filed against the company, Walker's office said these were the first two to be filed locally.